Defendant threatened to kill judge

A MAN who threatened to shoot a NSW District Court judge in a series of ''specific, stark and chilling'' death threats has been jailed for at least two years and five months.

Darren Linney, 46, from Queensland, sent three emails to Judge Peter Johnstone between April 10 and April 28 this year, saying he knew where the judge lived and telling him, ''Remember Judge Opas. You should join him.''

Justice David Opas was shot and killed outside his Sydney home by an unidentified gunman in 1980.

The NSW Supreme Court heard Judge Johnstone presided over a case that Linney's neighbours took against him in February for nuisance, defamation and personal injury.

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Judge Johnstone found against Linney and awarded his neighbours nearly $190,000 in damages.

The decision sparked abusive emails from Linney, sent to the judge's associate, in which he wrote, ''Just to let you know I will not disappear. Not until you die''.

Other threats included, ''Maybe you should start digging your own hole. You will rot in hell much quicker and earlier than you anticipate'' and, ''Nice house you have maggot. I'm glad you won't get to enjoy it much longer''.

Linney was arrested in Queensland on May 4 and he pleaded guilty to threatening to cause injury to Judge Johnstone.

In a sentence handed down on Friday, Justice Geoffrey Bellew said Judge Johnstone had suffered substantial emotional harm as a result of the threats.

''What [Linney] did, in blunt terms, was threaten a judicial officer with death,'' Justice Bellew said. ''He did so in terms that were specific, stark and chilling.

In a statement tendered to the court, Judge Johnstone said the emails had caused him ''extreme concern''.

''It is not so much the personal abuse, it is the threats,'' said Judge Johnstone, who has since been appointed President of the Children's Court of NSW.

The court heard Linney now regretted his behaviour, which he described as ''brainless''.

Linney had told the court he did not know where the judge lived and he had no intention of hurting him. He said he had been ''gutted'' by the judge's decision, which he said left him bankrupt.

Taking into account time already served, he will be eligible for parole in October 2014.